3. Chapter 3
3
T houghts raced through Kelly’s mind faster than she could keep up with them. There’s another Kelly around that he’s waiting on…weird. Wait, no way he’s talking to me. He’s talking to me?! How does he know I’m here? How does he know my name? Shit. Shit shit shit. Fucking shit. I have to get out of here right now! How do I get out of here without them hearing? Dumbass, they already know you’re here! RUN!! So she did. Before her mind could yell at her any more, Kelly turned quickly and ran back toward the stairwell as fast as her feet could move. Then a wave of power, like nothing she’d ever felt before, slammed into her back, knocking her onto the floor. There was no catching herself as the momentum carried her forward until Newton’s first law came into play and her skull met the marble floor in a hard stop. As if that wasn’t enough, her feet were still in motion as they flipped over her head in something like a reverse backflip, ending with her back slamming against the floor. Between the shock and the force of the landing, breathing proved to be difficult, and pain radiated from head to toe. A groan escaped her as she rolled to the side and almost threw up.
“Fuuuuuuck” was the only word she could manage.
A deep chuckle came from what she thought was the direction of the meeting room and made its way closer to her.
Panic wrapped around her body like a weighted blanket as she scrambled to get up and run, but the hallway spun and the walls felt like they were closing in. Suddenly there wasn’t enough oxygen in the air, and anxiety wrapped its claws around every limb, working its way deep into her veins and swallowing up her mind. Moving was no longer an option.
“Shh, dinnae fash.” His voice was more calming now, and his hand gently stroked her cheek as she lay frozen in fear. “No one here is going to hurt ye. Calm down now.”
Quiet laughter consumed Kelly as her mind wrapped itself around the hilarity of her situation. Spasms racked her body as she gave into the hysterics. The emotions of the evening had built up until this point, and they suddenly vanished, leaving only the irony of the situation. Almost a year spent hunting these people and spying on them, the training and dedication, thinking she was two steps ahead… when in reality, they were running the show.
As sanity made its way back and her vision cleared, the red-haired man came into focus. Gray eyes stared down at her with an unexpected softness, and the right side of his mouth was lifted ever so slightly in a sideways grin.
“Come now, let’s get ye into a chair and I’ll explain.” he said as he moved to her side and pulled her up by the arm.
The hallway spun again, and more cursing ensued. Without warning, he scooped her up into his arms and carried her effortlessly down the hall to the meeting room. Her head rested against his shoulder, and a feeling of safety came over her. It disappeared as quickly as it had come along when he gently placed her in a chair. Opening her eyes was a challenge, but she managed, only to see twelve pairs of eyes staring at her in judgment and confusion.
“Kade,” a woman with a crisp English accent said, “what in the hell is going on?”
“This is the situation Christine spoke of. Kelly Hart has been tracking our activities here for months. Kelly, meet the North American Region of the Council.”
the Council continued their judgmental staring in silence, which made her feel like she had to say something to stop their eyes from boring into her soul.
“Um, hi” was all her shaky voice could manage.
Not a single face showed any emotion, almost as if they were made of stone. Kelly found herself wishing someone would laugh at her, just to break the silence.
“You know what?” The words left her mouth without permission. “You can just call the cops and I’ll go with them. I...I don’t want to bother you.”
One of them laughed then, a blond woman who was a touch too thin and way too dolled up. Prominent cheekbones and pursed lips gave her the look of a woman who thought she was better than everyone, and her attitude seemed to match her appearance.
“There is no need for that, girl. We have our own way of dealing with humans like you,” the blond woman said.
“Now, now, Elizabeth, that is uncalled-for. Fate brought Kelly here, and I refuse to turn her away.” Red-Hair came to her rescue.
A man at the end of the table spoke, “Kade, you’ve got to be kidding. Put this nonsense to rest and let’s get on with this. Our time is too valuable to be dealing with…”
“ENOUGH!” the red-haired man yelled. “Ye will not speak to me that way, Isaac, nor will ye question my actions or decisions.”
Blondie piped up again. “Sir, with all due respect, she is a human and is not worth our trouble. We must continue, as time is of the essence and others are depending on us to come to a decision.”
Red-Hair’s face was suddenly flushed in anger. “Elizabeth, must I reprimand ye as well?”
“I suppose you must if you plan to devote any of our time to this…this…”—she waved her hand toward Kelly as if to shoo her away—“this mess.”
Straightening his shoulders, he spoke through gritted teeth. “If ye wish to save yer precious time, ye may take yer leave. I will consider it yer resignation from the Council if that is yer choice. Ye may hand over yer key and go.”
The two of them stared each other down for what felt like minutes. Red-Hair’s jaw clenched, and the veins in his temples and forehead looked as if they might pop any moment. Blondie stared at him with the intensity only a woman could manage, the kind that says Cross me and I’ll cut your fucking dick off or something like that.
Finally, she took a deep breath and looked away. “Very well, Kade, do as you feel you must. You will learn to reorganize your priorities soon enough, or you will be stripped from this precious new position you find yourself in. Placing a human above the matters of the Council does not speak well to your ability to lead your people.” She sighed dramatically as she stood from her seat. “I find myself in need of some fresh air. I do hope you have this resolved when I return so we can focus on more important matters.” With that, she left the room, her heels clicking on the floor as they carried her away.
Straightening his tie and squaring his shoulders yet again, Red-Hair—or Kade, as they called him—attempted to compose himself and hide his anger as he turned toward Kelly. He kneeled in front of her and spoke gently, “Now then, lass, let’s chat, shall we?”
His deep-gray eyes had a calming effect as they stared into hers. The right side of his mouth curved up again in that sideways smile he’d given her earlier, and she would have melted if she’d been standing. He was clean-cut. The sides of his hair were cut close, but it was a bit more wild on top and had a bit of curl to it. He had a full beard that shaped his jaw perfectly, and it was cleanly trimmed as well. Even hidden behind a beard, his face and cheekbones were well defined. He looked like one of those men in a lumberjack commercial; he just needed to forgo the gray suit for jeans, a plaid shirt, and an ax. Kelly couldn’t help but laugh at the thought of him as a lumberjack. The harder she tried to get the image out of her mind, the more futile her attempts. Then she snorted, and then laughed even harder in embarrassment. That scolding voice spoke in her head. There you go again, letting your mind lead you down crazy lane as you face a rather serious situation. Really, Kelly, you need help.
Finally gaining control, Kelly wiped the tears from her eyes and looked at him again. He seemed amused with her, not mad or frustrated as she thought he would be.
“I’m sorry, I can’t help it. This is not how I expected things to go, and my emotions are getting the better of me. You want to chat, let’s chat.”
“Right,” he said. “Ye’ve been watching this building for months now, and I kent it from the moment I felt ye staring at me from across the street. I had ye followed that night, and every night since, to see what ye were up to and what ye would do. I ken ye were breaking in tonight, and I waited for ye to make it up here so I could confront ye.”
Surprise, shock, wonder, and awe all made their way through her before anger landed home. “You asshole! You knew I was doing all of this, and you let me—only to knock me down and embarrass the hell out of me when we finally came face to face? What the hell? Do you like playing games with peoples’ heads? Well, thank you for the mindfuck, I’ll be on my way!”
She pushed herself up out of the chair and took one defiant step before almost falling flat on her face as her head spun again. He caught her and gently placed her back into the chair as that damn crooked smile made an appearance again. He was so good-looking, it started to take away from her anger at him.
“Just listen, will ye? Jesus. Aye, I kent ye were watching us, and I had ye followed. People don’t find this building or see us coming and going because we have safeguards in place to stop those sorts of things. The fact that ye saw us entering the building means there’s more to ye than even ye ken. I had ye followed to see who ye were and what ye were up to, and I let ye carry out yer special wee plan to see just how far ye would make it and how capable ye are. The fact that you made it up here means yer one of us. Yer magical, Kelly.”
He said it like she was supposed to know what that meant. Magical? Like the guys in Vegas, now you see me, now you don’t type of shit? What in the ever-loving hell was he talking about?
“Riiight, well, you’re clearly off your rocker, so, as I’ve said before, I’ll be on my way now. This obviously was not how I meant for things to turn out, and you’re obviously not the kind of special I thought you were. Thanks for your time and for knocking me on my ass. Bye now.” She tried to get up again, but this time his hand went to her shoulder and kept her from moving at all.
He looked her in the eyes again and spoke with the seriousness of a parent. “Ye think I’m off my rocker, but ye can’t deny the things that happen when yer near us. Yer fingers spark when yer close to this building or to me. Ye’ve felt my power hit ye every time ye’ve seen me. Ye ken something about us, about ye, is different; it just scares ye too much to admit it.”
Kelly didn’t have to think before she spoke. “Yes, I think you’re crazy. Magic, power, sparks? You caught me, bravo for you, but I don’t plan to sit around here while you try to mold my mind into believing some insane shit just so you can lock me up in a mental institution and keep me quiet for the rest of my days. I’m not nearly as stupid as you believe me to be. What do you want? If it’s money, I don’t have any, and I don’t have any connections either. If you want my body, you seem to have enough money to pay for someone who is willing.” Again, she tried to get up, and again he stopped her. Shit.
“Oh, enough, Kade, just show her!” a dark-haired man said from across the table. “If you won’t, I will.”
Kelly had forgotten anyone else was there. Great, now she could be embarrassed in front of them all. This was some sick and twisted joke, and she was done with it.
“You people are all ins…” Her words cut off as fangs descended from the dark-haired man’s pearly white smile. A woman on the left side of the table stood and held her hands out in front of her as electricity crackled between them. A blond man with long, braided hair to her right stood, and she noticed his ears were pointed. One after the other, all ten people at the table stood and revealed something different about themselves. Kelly turned to Kade, thinking he was her safety in all of this, only to see fangs coming from his mouth too. She opened her mouth to finish telling them they were all insane, and everything went black.
hearing returned before her eyesight came back to the party.
“Ye bunch o’ numpties, did ye really think it was best to just show yerselves all at once like that?” came Kade’s voice.
“She was already hysterical, and anger was clouding her judgment. What would you have done, shown her just one of us? Kade, you’re joking with yourself if you think anything else would have worked,” said a man with an English accent.
“Humans, always leading with emotion.” An Australian woman this time.
A groan escaped her before she spoke groggily, “I can hear you, ya know?”
“Aye, lass, take it easy. Don’t move too quickly or ye’ll end up right back in the land of dreams.”
Struggling to focus, Kelly’s eyes opened slowly. She was bent over, still sitting in the chair, with her head in his….
“Oh fuck!” Her head was in his lap! Talk about embarrassing. Instinct told her to sit up immediately, but having almost fallen on her face numerous times this evening had taught her at least one lesson. Kelly braced her hands on his knees and gently pushed herself up until she was fully upright. “I am so, so sorry I ended up, um, well,”
He saved her from herself. “It’s quite all right. Shall we pick up where we left off, then?”
“Uh, sure,” she managed. “You said I’m one of you, and all of these, um, folks showed me that they’re ‘magical,’ as you put it. You’re saying I’m magical? I really think you must be mistaken.” Besides a couple of ums here and there, Kelly congratulated herself on a well-formed sentence, given the circumstances. There was hope for her yet!
Kade smiled at her, fully this time. “What we are is known as Arcane. It means that we are not human, and we have special traits or abilities that define each of our races. Humans would likely describe it as magical, which is why I used the word. I am a vampire; Fabian, to yer right, is fae. Ms. Crackle Fingers on the left is a mage, and I believe ye are as well. Ye just haven’t gone through yer bonding yet, so yer power is hiding below the surface.”
So many questions came to mind, but before Kelly could pick one to ask, Ms. Goody Two-Shoes sauntered back into the room. Her eyes scanned the room, passing over Kelly with a look of pure disgust before landing on Kade.
“Right then, can we get down to business now? I see your new pet has calmed a bit and seems to have her emotions contained for the moment.”
“Elizabeth.” Kade nodded slightly at her. “I’ll kindly ask ye to give her the same level of respect that ye would anyone else here, and yes, we will continue. Kelly will be joining us; ye may speak freely in her presence.” He turned to Kelly then. “We have business to attend to, and then I will answer any questions ye have. I apologize, but these matters cannot wait and will take some time to address. May I get anything for ye before we begin? Water? Food?”
“I guess water, please,” Kelly managed, questions still clouding her mind.
“Very well then, I’ll be back. When we are done here, I’ll take care of the bumps and bruises ye have, and we’ll get you comfortable so we can talk.”
“Thank you,” she said, wondering what he meant because all of this would heal in time. What would not heal was her general understanding of the world. She could only hope he would have answers for all of her questions.
Kade left the room, leaving Kelly to sit there with everyone else. She didn’t look at them, not wanting to see their contempt or disgust for her. This would surely go down as the most embarrassing night of her life, not to mention an epic failure. So much for her master plan to expose this big story. Now what was she going to do? Without a big story, her blog would surely fail, and she’d end up living in her car for the rest of her days. Turning to face the giant conference table, she crossed her arms and laid her head down on them to cry.
A hand touched her right shoulder, and a man spoke in a soft, almost musical voice. “Do not lose hope yet, young one. What surely feels like the end of your life is simply the beginning of another. Your struggles will be many, but fate will be kind to you along the way. This is where you are meant to be.”
Looking up, Kelly took in the most beautiful eyes she’d ever seen. Before, all that caught her notice was his almost white braided hair and his pointed ears. Now, she stared into eyes of the lightest blue—so light they were almost white. His skin was pale and so smooth it seemed like he had makeup on. He smiled at her gently, and it put her at ease.
“You’re wasting your time, Fabian,” Goody Two-Shoes said. “Kade doesn’t know what he is talking about. She is clearly a human, and a bloody stupid one at that.”
One more of those remarks and Kelly was going to tell that woman exactly where she could shove her opinion. Fucking bitch.
Fabian came to her rescue, though, saving her the trouble. “Oh Elizabeth, I do tire of your constant drama and your inflated opinion of yourself. Had you paid any attention, you would have noticed every clue that Kelly is in fact an Arcane, and a very special one at that. Kade’s judgment has not failed him in this matter, nor in any others recently. You must let your bitterness over his appointment to the position of Jarl go, or you will find that it hinders your own ability to lead your people. I, for one, will not stand for any more comments toward her unless they are helpful or kind.”
Elizabeth chuckled at him, giving him the same look she had given Kade earlier. “You bore me, Fabian. Do you plan to offer her your protection? That is the only way you have any right to protect her from anything, including my harmless comments.”
Fabian looked at Elizabeth, seeming to weigh something in his mind. When he finally spoke, his answer made the others at the table stare at him in awe. “Yes, that is exactly what I plan to do.”
“Fabian, I really appreciate it, but I don’t need protecting.”
“You don’t understand, little girl. He just offered to watch over you full time and to die for you, should the need arise. He offered to be your Guardian,” Elizabeth explained.
Kade came back with her water and set it in front of her. “Is that true, Fabian, ye offered to be her Guardian? Why is that necessary? No one here will harm her.”
“Sir, if you would permit, I would like to have that conversation privately. My offer for Guardianship stands for forty-eight hours, during which time I will act as her Guardian until she accepts, formally declines, or that time expires.”
“Aye then, as ye wish.” Kade turned to Kelly. “Are ye comfortable, lass?”
“Yes, I’m fine,” she answered, cradling her head in her hands.
“If ye would like to go and lie down, I can arrange for Fabian to take leave from the meeting and watch over ye. Or if ye need anything else, just let me know.”
Kelly nodded to appease him, but she really didn’t feel like moving, so she happily stayed in the chair with her head down on the table, preparing herself to listen to whatever they planned to discuss. This was all too much, and with any luck, they’d lull her to sleep.
“Right then, let us get started,” Kade began, “It is 1:44 a.m. on December 12 th , 2020, and I, Kade MacCabe, call to order this official meeting of the North American Region of the Council.”